Yes, there are boarding schools in California.

In late ‘21 The Film Guys traveled to Carpinteria, California to work with Cate.

To immerse ourselves in the subject matter, we did sunrise writing sessions on the beach, ate plenty of Mexican food, we surfed, slacklined and even visited a national park prior to the project. Whether we tried or not, we found a different wavelength in California. A wavelength that suits boarding school beautifully.

The friendly weather, the rustling eucalyptus trees, the hammocks, the surf, the morning meetings outside, the close, kind atmosphere. This was a place where students could relax their nervous systems after the hard academic work.

We hadn’t ever witnessed a school quite like it. It seemed like the Garden of Eden, if the Garden of Eden had a view of the Pacific.

Yet sometimes the California dream takes up the room. How does your real, quality, intensive academic offering balance its reputation against “California: chill out and surf“?

Though we could increase the volume of our chants, we face a timeless creative challenge about touting how ‘good of an academic program you have’. To date, we haven’t come up with a way to do it in a way that is becoming.

So what did we do? 

Everyone at Cate knows the work it takes to succeed, whether or not people on the outside do. We saw that Cate was confident and comfortable in its identity. We didn’t need to prove anything.

A couple of days on the Mesa left us wondering how to tell this story. Normally we’re trying to draw attention to the highlights. In this case, we had to almost downplay them to keep the California story at bay.

A week passed and we were struggling. What an unusual challenge for our team.

As always, the answer was in the air if we just looked up.

There’s an energy you feel when you’re on the Mesa. Say what you want, go set foot and feel it for yourself.

There’s a “this could be home” vibration. When you travel across the country (or world) for your education, that feeling of home is what grounds you, allows you to find balance, your center. We felt it strongly, being wandering travelers ourselves.

Plug that idea in and it fits like a puzzle. The kids at Cate are grounded, present, effortlessly kind and keep a good humor to their challenges. People seem to be at home.

This makes for a community that’s easeful to be a part of.

With our video, we hoped to capture that energy. Show people what we see. That’s really all we need to do in our role at The Film Guys.